Page 56 of The Lost Prince
Zariah had a small cave he lived in when it suited him, complete with a nest of scraps and blankets big enough for all of us when he wasn’t in his dragon form. He hunted meat for us and provided the flame with which to cook it. All Shava and I needed to do was gather brush and other materials for the fire.
And all the while, I plotted.
“I think we need one of these … odd-smelling people,” I announced later that evening as we all took bites from the large roasted bird Zariah had brought back in his jaws.
“You’re talking about experimenting on an actual person?” Shava asked, her voice sharp.
I waved a drumstick at her. “If they’re going to die anyway, we might as well learn something from them. I thought you hated the Nobles.” Shava certainly hadn’t held back in her disparaging of her marriage trials and how much she hated everyone on the Seat.
“They are supposed to die anyway,” Zariah piped up. “I can bring one here, and we can just …” he trailed off, uncertain.
“Yes, that’s it,” I agreed, instantly seeing this as the perfect compromise. “Bring them here, and we will feed them and observe them to see if they can turn into this demon the way you can turn into your dragon, or whether it’s something else. Nothing untoward. It’s better than dying, right?”
Shava wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean, something else?”
I shrugged. “That remains to be seen.”
“Very well,” Zariah said. “You two will stay here, and I will bring back someone when I can.” He hesitated. “I can’t disobey a direct order from my mother. Neither can Zion. I’m not sure why. So I might have to wait until she throws someone up without specific orders, like she did with you and Shava.”
I blanched, not realizing that my survival had had more to do with dumb luck than my charming personality.
“Right,” I managed, taking another bite of the bird just to have something to do.
Zariah dusted himself off, still unabashedly naked. He said he didn’t see the point of clothes while we were out here, and that Shava and I had seen it all already. Shava had shrugged, saying most of the boys in the mud quarter ran around naked, anyway.
Clearly, I was outnumbered on this.
“Good luck then,” I said.
Shava stood and gave Zariah a hug. The little boy grinned, then took a running leap off the cliff.
My heart stuck in my throat, but the golden dragon rose above us moments later, headed straight for the kingdom.
“He’s a good kid,” Shava said a few moments later, breaking the silent trance we’d both fallen into. “Why does he refer to himself as Zariah? Isn’t his name Zion?”
I shrugged, not really feeling like explaining the intricacies of a split personality.
Her gaze sharpened. “Most boys I know aren’t like him. They’re self-serving little pricks who would stab you in the back for a moldy piece of bread.” Her brow softened. “Zariah isn’t like that.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“And me?”
Her gaze narrowed. “I don’t trust you.”
“I don’t trust anyone ever,” I fired back.
“You’re arrogant.”
“Intelligent.”
“You view people only by what they can do for you, and not as something valuable just as themselves.”
I opened my mouth then closed it, not having a comeback. Did I view people that way? It didn’t seem unreasonable at all; simply practical.
“All women are—” I’d been about to say weak and silly, but that wasn’t true. My mother had been weak, relying on pleasing others for her own survival. Clover was the same way, along with all the kitchen girls who imagined themselves gaining some advantage from having my favor.
As if I favored any of them.
